Cybersecurity in the era of Industrial Digitalization

According to a report from Global Economic Forum 2022, cyberattacks are rated as the no.5 threat out of top 10 global risks for the next 10 years. The global spending by both the governments and corporates are constantly increasing despite that, the annual number of cyberattacks reached an all time high in 2021. It is shocking to note that the number of cyberattacks in factories are on the rise and a recent study indicates more than 48% of the industries faced some form of cyberattacks in the recent years. This could be largely attributed to the fact that these factories employ legacy IT systems that are not updated for latest security threats.

How does digital transformation impact cybersecurity?

When factories undertook automation and digital transformation, the production systems became connected with themselves and the IT systems. The moment they were connected to the internet, they got exposed to external cyber security threats in various forms. A lot of businesses undertake digital transformation and migrate to cloud based platforms but they don’t give enough impetus to cyber security. This led to a lot of manufacturing units getting impacted by targeted cyberattacks.

More than 50% of the industries that were exposed to cyberattacks suffered heavy financial and business loss. A recent study indicates that manufacturing is the 4th most targeted industry in the world for cyber attackers. The leading pharmaceutical producer Merck paid a huge price of $310M due to a production shutdown caused by a cyberattack. This is just one such example of how a manufacturing industry suffered financial loss due to a cyberattack in recent years. 

The Steps for ensuring Cybersecurity 

Encourage Internal and External Collaboration 

Cybersecurity should be treated seriously and can only be prevented by coordinated team effort. Internal collaboration and forums should be established between various departments and they should update the cyber security team on new developments as and when they are happening. The cyber security team on the other hand should be in constant contact with the rest of the business by updating them on the latest threats and what needs to be done to prevent any unforeseen attacks. The scope of cyberattacks has expanded from traditional forms to more newer formats like privacy and regulatory hurdles. The business should set up both internal and external collaboration well before the attack happens and should not scramble to set up teams after an attack.

Develop and Utilize a Strong Cyber Hygiene Program

The majority of cyberattacks in the last decade could have been theoretically averted if the business had trained and practised a good cyber hygiene regime. The primary causes for these cyberattacks have been improper social engineering which is a result of psychological manipulation of employees to disclose private information. Businesses should form a cybersecurity protocol and train their employees on things to do and not do. Such a trained strong cyber hygiene program can prevent the bulk of cyberattacks.

Protect Access to Mission-Critical Assets

The core mission-critical assets of an organization can only be protected if the business invests on upgrading the security perimeter of identity and access management systems. As systems migrate towards cloud platforms, they become vulnerable to data breach. Businesses should adopt novel strategies and technologies to protect their identity and data access management systems. 

Orchestration and Automation

Cloud Orchestration is critical to achieve a high level of cyber security. While adopting digital transformation and moving to cloud based systems the business should also enable automation of cyber security guidelines and measures. 

Secure Your Supply Chain by Using a Zero-Trust Approach

Keeping yourself updated and protected is not sufficient to prevent cyberattacks. Around 50% of the businesses completely miss to evaluate the risks posed by their software and hardware vendors. Hackers are consistently looking out for weak points to initiate a cyberattack. As a good security measure, the business should periodically evaluate security risks of vendor supplied software.

Avoid, Track, and Address Cyber Threats

The role of the cybersecurity team is not only to implement a cyber security hygiene but also to constantly track newer cyber threats as and when they emerge. Whenever a new ransomware or virus attacks a company the others should immediately take a note of it and strengthen their firewall and update their security systems accordingly. More than 2-3rds of cyberattacks are discovered and prevented by security teams despite this, cyberattacks are increasing rapidly. Hackers are consistently upgrading themselves to new technologies and methodologies to attack businesses.

Create Production Continuity plan and Crisis management strategy

Setting up a well trained security team and installing cybersecurity measures are key to prevent a cyberattack. This alone is not enough as hackers find newer ways to breach firewalls, a business might be attacked any moment of time even though it employs a proper security framework. If and when a security breach happens, the business should not panic and go haywire. They should have a properly trained and experienced crisis management team in place that will sprung to action as and when an attack takes place. They will switch to a backup plan that will enable business continuity with least possible disruption. 

Build a Robust Disaster Recovery Plan for Cyberattacks

Cybersecurity is not something that you invest one-time and forget, it is a continuous process. Without proper precautions, a business once prone to attack can suffer heavy reputational, operation and financial loss. This is why a business not only needs preventive measures and a crisis team, but also a well-planned disaster recovery plan. A separate team should be set up and trained who should step in after the attack to lead the recovery from the attack. 

Foster a Cybersecurity Culture

As mentioned earlier, a properly curated cybersecurity hygiene is the need of the hour and will prevent many cyberattacks. Employees are prone to expose the data of the company while they come in contact with the outside world primarily while using business systems in their smartphones. The cybersecurity team should install necessary firewalls and other security software across all platforms and conduct training sessions with employees on how they can  help prevent cyberattacks.

Case study:

Company:  leading UK asset management company 

Challenge:

Since they are operating in the finance domain, cybersecurity risks are more significant. They have identified the key to prevent data breaches is by gaining more security visibility and constantly monitor and track new security threats. They decided to hire a third party service provider for monitoring threats and let the in-house IT team focus more on remediating rather than on detecting threats. They have tried multiple SIEM and EDR platforms but they did not yield the desired level of results.

Solution:

They installed a third-party threat management platform to monitor and alert the teams of latest threats. This created a centralized visibility for the business and it now receives all types of threat notifications in a single platform. 

Results

According to the director of the company they got a new dimension of over cybersecurity and felt more secure than ever before. The following are the key benefits as a result of deploying a threat management platform.

• Unified Visibility
• Enhanced Security Capability
• Greater Return from Security Tools
• Secure Cloud Migration
• The Latest Threat Intelligence

The Bottom Line: 

The value of encouraging an atmosphere of security and risk awareness, shared responsibility for cyber risk, and resilience to cyber risk will only increase as the year progresses. Decision makers across the organization, including the board, the C-suite, and business unit experts, are more inclined to trust and support cybersecurity leaders who can get beyond a tactical, technical level.

With comprehensive cyber-risk management, companies can create more intelligent, quicker, and more connected futures and spur corporate growth, which is why TAFF’s cybersecurity services can assist you in quantifying and prioritizing your risks because we offer the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of consultancy and international managed security services. Contact us immediately to conduct a thorough audit of your network and cloud systems to identify possible security vulnerabilities and plan a coordinated cybersecurity program.

• Cyber Security Applications
• Industrial Cybersecurity
• Industrial Revolution 4.0